Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians

Brubeck, Chris (Christopher William)

Brubeck, Chris (Christopher William), bass, trombone, piano, guitar and sings, composer; b. Los Angeles, CA, 19 March 1952. Chris attended High School at the Interlochen Arts Academy where he was in orchestra 2 hours a day, Big Band Jazz rehearsals three times a week, Concert Band, Small Brass Ensembles and led various student rock-n-roll groups. During his days as a bass trombone performance major at The University of Michigan, Chris led, toured and recorded with his innovative "rock" bands, New Heavenly Blue (with releases on R.C.A. and Atlantic Records) and in 1975 Sky King on Columbia.

He currently performs and records with The Brubeck Brothers Quartet (BBQ), featuring his brother Dan Brubeck on drums, Mike DeMicco on guitar and a variety of favorite musicians on keyboards, among them, Chuck Lamb Taylor Eigsti and Pete Levin and with Triple Play, an acoustic blues/jazz/folk trio with vocals that includes guitarist Joel Brown and harmonica virtuoso Peter Madcat Ruth.

And, as has been true since his teenage years, Chris continues to play bass and trombone in The Dave Brubeck Quartet. Over the decades, Chris and his family have recorded dozens of albums together, and in December 2000, he and brothers Dan, Darius and Matthew teamed up with their father for a memorable celebration of Dave's 80th birthday. The Brubecks performed two concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) at The Barbican Theater.

Highlights of his compositional achievements in the past two years include two orchestral pieces, commissioned and performed by the illustrious Boston Pops, conducted by Keith Lockhart. In May 2001, the Boston Pops celebrated the Boston Symphony Hall's 100th Anniversary with the world premiere of Chris' "Convergence: Concerto for Orchestra."

His second Boston Pops commission, "Interplay for 3 Violins and Orchestra," premiered in May 2002, with performances by violinists Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg (classical), Eileen Ivers (Irish) and Regina Carter (jazz). The concert was broadcast on PBS' "Evening at Pops" in an episode named "Fiddlers Three" and the program won the 2002 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award with Chris also receiving a Deems Taylor award for best composition for television broadcast.

In 2002, Chris premiered "River of Song," penned for famed mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, and performed in California. The Norwalk, Connecticut Youth Symphony commissioned Chris to write a piece, "Ascension," which premiered in 2002, and he ended the year with an invitation to compose a piece for Vision Into Arts' New York International Pianofest. The December festival also featured premieres of new works by Philip Glass, Gyorgy Ligeti, Milton Babbitt and others.

Chris is currently composing new works commissioned by The U.S. Army Field Band; a consortium of Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Bay Chamber Concerts of Rockport ME; and The Wilton Education Foundation and Wilton Library's Wilton Arts Festival, each of which will premiere in 2003. He has also been invited to pen a new piece for Skitch Henderson's New York Pops, and will perform his "Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra" in Prague, as soloist with the Czech National Orchestra.